Flaherty was born and raised in Charlotte
and attended the University of Michigan. Upon graduation, he
entered the Navy as an Ensign in the Naval Reserve. He was
stationed on board the battleship, U.S.S. Oklahoma at Pearl
Harbor when Japanese forces attacked. He was trapped in a gun
turret below deck but managed to help several of his crewmates
escape death before losing his own life at age 22. Flaherty was
the first of only 13 Michigan men to be awarded the Medal of
Honor during World War II.

·
George E. Ranney, Lansing – Assistant Surgeon, 2nd
Michigan Cavalry

In 1864, during
a Civil War battle at Resaca, Georgia, Ranney risked his own
life to pull a wounded Union soldier to safety. After the war,
he helped establish the Michigan State Medical Society, and was
the author of many medical papers including one in 1874 showing
that contaminated water was the prolific cause of typhoid fever.
He died in 1915.

In October 1952,
when he was 22, Skinner was a forward artillery observer in a
vital forward outpost in Korea when it was attacked by the
enemy. He continued the defense of the position until his unit’s
ammunition was exhausted and he directed his men to feign death
as the enemy overran the position. When a grenade was thrown
among the Marines, Skinner threw himself on it to protect the
others, losing his life.

Distinguished Service Inductees:

·
Eugene Bleil, East Lansing – Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Corps

In April 1942,
Bleil was serving in the Bataan Peninsula, Philippines, when the
Japanese Imperial Army attacked, and forced 78,000 U.S. and
Filipino forces to march 65 miles across the Peninsula to a
prison camp. During what would become known as the Bataan Death
March, thousands were brutally killed or died due to heat,
exhaustion or malnutrition. Bleil was imprisoned in two camps
before being sent to Japan as a slave laborer.He was freed September 1945. Bleil came home and became
an anesthesiologist.

·
Louis Stamatakos, Okemos – Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Corps

Just 19,
Stamatakos was the tail gunner on a B-17 bomber over Kassel,
Germany in February 1945. The plane successfully released four
of its six bombs to hit targets below.The remaining two bombs were stuck in shackles in the
bomb bay and one was live. Stamatakos risked his own safety to
balance dangerously over the open bay doors to free the bombs,
saving everyone on board. He became a Professor of Higher
Education Administration at Michigan State University and died
in January 2011.

Special Tribute:

·
Richard P. Thelen, Lansing – Seaman Second Class, U.S. Navy

Richard Thelen
survived one of most horrifying events of World War II – the
sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis in the Pacific. The ship,
with 1,196 crew, had just delivered parts and enriched uranium
for the atomic bomb that would be later dropped on Hiroshima. It
stopped at Guam to pick up crew who had completed their tours of
duty.Two days later
in open sea, it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. The
damage was so severe, the ship sank in 12 minutes. 800 men made
it into the water but few life rafts were released.The Navy command had no knowledge of the disaster until 4
days later. By then, only 316 men survived, the others
succumbing to shark attacks, exposure, salt poisoning and
thirst.Thelen was
only 17 when he joined the Navy. After the war, he became an
independent truck driver.